Metro

Gov off hook in Caroline flap

ALBANY — The state’s top ethics watchdog has decided not to investigate whether Gov. Paterson ordered damaging and erroneous leaks about Caroline Kennedy earlier this year during his Senate-selection debacle.

“After factual and legal inquiry, the Commission on Public Integrity has unanimously determined to close this matter with no further action,” the agency’s director, Barry Ginsberg, wrote in a letter Friday to good-government groups that had requested the probe.

The decision saves the governor from rehashing an embarrassing episode that corresponded with a precipitous drop in his popularity last winter.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” said Blair Horner of NYPIRG, one of the groups that requested the probe. “Apparently, if a public official discloses confidential information about a private citizen, no one can punish them.”

The leaker or leakers — identified as “a source close the to the governor” in several media outlets, including The Post — claimed tax problems and a nanny issue had derailed Kennedy’s bid for an appointment to the Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Paterson has blamed the leaks on a Washington-based campaign consultant.

brendan.scott@nypost.com